The best games for PS5 take full advantage of the console’s significant upgrades from its predecessor, with a better CPU and GPU, more RAM, SSD storage, and controller enhancements to push games to the next level. The very best PS5 games should provide a little something extra—exceptional graphics, amazing sound, or really cool feedback and integration with the new DualSense Controller.
Our pick for the best PS5 game is Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, because although it has a few bugs, the world looks gorgeous and it held our interest from start to finish. We’ve also included picks in other categories, like the best FPS, the best RPG, the best platformer, and the best PS5 game for kids.
Assassin’s Creed has had its share of ups and downs over the 12 main entries into the series, but the fact that Valhalla is the 12th main entry should send a signal that the series remains solid. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla definitely stands tall among the other entries as one of the best in the series, as well as one of the best games to play on your PS5. Valhalla looks amazing running in 4k at 60 FPS, with next-gen visual tricks that show off the console’s graphics. The sunlight beams down, making you feel as though you are really exploring medieval England. Whether it’s through attacking forts or riding through the detailed wilderness on a wolf, you will always have sights to see.
Best overall
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS5)
Huge open world to explore
Gorgeous visuals
Exciting historical theme
Has bugs that need resolved
The side quest system feels streamlined and the quests are actually enjoyable, rather than having you spend hours on a bunch of meaningless hunts or fetch quests that are repeated through each zone. The game does not disappoint when it comes to acting or storytelling either. You play as Eivor—a male or female Viking who wants to lead their clan out of their homeland in search of a better life and home. Throughout the game, players explore much of medieval England. You get to see a really cool interpretation of Asgard, and several other places.
Eivor will become involved with the Assassins in an attempt to take down Templars, much like other games in the series. As with other Assassin’s Creed games, there is a modern part of the tale, as well, which continues from previous entries. With fun combat, thorough exploration, and a good story, this is a top notch game for PS5.
“Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla exceeds, as Assassin’s Creed games so often do, in creating the most painstakingly detailed virtual recreation of a place and period possible. It’s got exploration, intense combat, and enthralling stories by the bucket full, and it’s easy to get lost in its sheer scope and scale.” — Andy Zahn, Product Tester
Even with that limited scope, Miles Morales is an even better and more exciting game than its predecessor. Miles’ tale is full of richly drawn characters, relationships, and tugs on emotional threads as he navigates being the new Spider-Man and wrestling with conflicts that are nearer and dearer than expected. It’s a beautiful game on the PS5 and benefits from the immersive DualSense controller and speedy loading times, but the PS4 version keeps the experience intact without the bonus frills. This is one of the best comic-based games to date.
Best Adventure
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Fits well in universe
Good controls and responsiveness
A fun experience start to finish
Smaller game than original Spider-Man game
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an open-world superhero adventure that launched alongside the new PlayStation 5 console, but is also available on PlayStation 4. It carries over most of the framework from Insomniac Games’ 2018 Spider-Man quest, but has a shorter campaign and less side content around it, but with a lesser price tag to match.
“Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a stunner on the new PlayStation 5 hardware, putting the ample graphical power to use in delivering smooth performance at 4K resolution and dazzling lighting effects.” — Andrew Hayward, Product Tester
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is another great entry in the COD series, and our pick for best FPS on PS5. Cold War provides players with three main ways to enjoy the game and plenty of fun to be had. The campaign mode focuses on the Cold War and has some interesting ways of exploring the way the series can go. There are the large scale battles and gunfights of course, but there are also more calm moments which provide a bit of balance, making you feel more engaged and like you’re playing through a real story.
Best FPS
Black Ops Cold War
Tight shooting
Best in class multiplayer
Lots of modes and things to do
Not much innovation
The Cold War story follows up on the previous Black Ops entry, and even includes some characters you will find familiar. Don’t worry if you didn’t play the last entry, as you do not need to have played to enjoy this game. With huge set piece moments and classic COD gunplay, there is plenty of action in the roughly five to eight hours of campaign gameplay. The Multiplayer mode is the classic draw for any COD game, and Cold War doesn’t let you down, but at the same time, a lot of it feels familiar. Most modes are 6v6, but there is also Combined Arms mode, which features 12v12, and Fireteam: Dirty Bomb, which is a fun mode that features 40 players on 10 teams. Finally, there’s Zombie mode—a mode which sees players facing round after round of zombie killing fun in a cooperative way. With lots to do, and executed in a clean way, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War is a must have for any PS5 owner who loves the FPS genre.
Hitman 3 is a sandbox-style stealth game that’s available on PS5, as well as Microsoft Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch. This game is the conclusion to the World of Assassination Trilogy, and it has excellent replay value in spite of its short campaign, which is only around six hours long. In the game, you play as Agent 47, an assassin who previously worked for the International Contract Agency (ICA), but you have now gone rogue along with your handler (Diana Burnwood) and another assassin named Lucas Grey.
Best Stealth
IO Interactive Hitman 3
Sandbox-style assassinations
Tons of replayability
Cool locations and levels
Several game modes
Multiple disguises
Stiff animations
Slow-paced gameplay
Short campaign
Lacks multiplayer (as of launch)
Your goal is to destroy a shadow organization called Providence. You do this by traveling to different locations and completing missions. You’ll visit all sorts of cool places, like a skyscraper in Dubai, a mansion in Dartmoor, a club in Berlin, and other interesting places. The cut scenes tend to be a bit stiff and outdated, but the game still looks good overall.
You play through six main missions, which are presented to you in a menu. You get incentives for replaying each mission, making the game more fun to replay. There are also different game modes to make the game more exciting, but there’s no multiplayer mode (as of launch). A unique game with fun levels, costumes, and humor, Hitman 3 is a must-play on PS5.
“The levels are exciting and gameplay keeps you locked in. You will be constantly diverted by exploration, looking for tools, and distractions.” — Erika Rawes, Product Tester
Watch Dogs: Legion is the third game in the Watch Dogs series, and it feels like a pinnacle of what the series can do. Most open world games allow you to take your character anywhere, but Watch Dogs: Legion lets you take control of literally any person you encounter in the city. You are given the ability to scan any person, learn about their skills, and then complete a task for them to recruit them to your team. Completing a combat mission with a senior citizen or a spy is the ultimate in choice and freedom.
Best Open World
Watch Dogs: Legion
Permadeath feature available for extra challenge
Effective use of humor
Good attention to detail
Visually interesting
Missions felt redundant
Online play not available on release
The game has permadeath for your characters, which makes missions with your favorite characters feel more important. Exploring futuristic London is truly a sight made better on the PS5, and puts the hardware to the test. In the game, you are many characters who make up a group called DedSec, a hacktivist group who want to take down another hacker group and a private security group with a grip on the city. The story is pretty interesting, and the characters are well acted and thoughtful. As you complete the game, you will chase down side tasks, grow your abilities through a tech tree, and look for collectibles. All of the controls in the game are smooth and consistent, and you can see Ubisoft’s quality shine.
“Watch Dogs: Legion looks incredible, with great draw distances, and an incredibly detailed world.” — Erika Rawes, Product Tester
The remake of Demon’s Souls for the PS5 loses none of the difficulty and hideous grandeur of the original classic. BluePoint Games have done a masterful job of fixing bugs and overhauling the visuals with fantastic next-gen visuals.
Best Challenge
Namco Bandai Games Demon’s Souls
Punishing difficulty
Rewarding gameplay
Innovative world
Not for the faint of heart
Make no mistake, Demon’s Souls is a brutal experience that refuses to hold your hand through its claustrophobic corridors, gothic towers, and miserable stinking swamps haunted by decaying monsters designed to test your reflexes and strategic thinking. It’s a deep game with a steep learning curve. The reward for suffering such punishment is a feeling of accomplishment unparalleled in gaming. Even the smallest success in forward progression feels like a triumph.
Aside from the gorgeous next gen graphics and smooth 60fps frame rate that show off the impressive capabilities of the PS5, the variety of environments to traverse in Demon’s Souls keeps the game feeling fresh. After hours of trudging through what can charitably be described as an infected sewer, it’s refreshing indeed to visit the relatively bright and stormy seaside. Swapping between the five available regions also gives you the opportunity to take a breather from that one boss that keeps killing you, if only to die ignominiously to a random skeleton you failed to notice hiding in an alcove.
Along with the unique brand of multiplayer common among Souls games, Demon’s Souls is not only a worthy remake of the original classic that started it all, but this PS5 exclusive is perhaps the pinnacle of the franchise. It’s a wild ride, and one on that you must be prepared to die.
“Demon’s Souls on PS5 is stunning to behold, yet has lost none of the atmosphere of oppressive gloom that fans of the PS3 classic adored.” — Andy Zahn, Product Tester
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a spin-off from the Little Big Planet universe, which is a Playstation exclusive set of titles focused around crafted characters and worlds. These games usually have tons of tools for creating levels and mini-games. However, you won’t find the same tools in this spin-off, as it instead focuses solely on a platforming adventure to save Craftworld. This targeted approach makes for an accessible and entertaining ride as you complete level after level of colorful and exciting challenges. Even better, you can play couch co-op with another player.
Best Platformer
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Fun world and characters
Local Co-op
Excellent level variety
Controls can be finicky
The story is cute and lighthearted and keeps you invested as you play. Level designs are well done, as each level offers a good amount of variety and things rarely feel repetitive. The stages have beautiful visuals and just make you feel good as you play them. You will hop, dash, and explore to a fun soundtrack that features some fun takes on popular songs. While the controls can be a bit loose at times and can lead to a few unfortunate failures, they’re not so bad that they’ll cause a huge amount of frustration. Sack Boy: A Big Adventure is best described as a fun time and a game where you can smile while playing, especially with someone next to you playing along.
Bugsnax creates an original world that will draw in kids and even some adults. In the game, you visit Snaktooth, an island that features Bugsnax, which are sentient food that mimic animals and bugs. As you arrive, you are thrust into a mystery surrounding a missing explorer and a town where everyone has gone their separate ways. Luckily, you can pull everything back together by helping each “Grumpus’’ with locating their favorite Bugsnax.
Best for Kids
Bugsnax
Fascinating world
Good writing
Clever puzzles
Some odd technical issues
To locate them, you will need to take a picture of them, and then work out a small puzzle to capture them based on the creature. The puzzles are fun to solve and not overly difficult, so kids will be able to continue and achieve without getting frustrated. However, just because we selected this as the best kids game doesn’t mean there’s not something here for all gamers. It’s a fun game for kids and adults to play and talk about together (there is no co-op or multiplayer though, so you’d have to take turns or play on separate consoles).
The characters are extremely well written, and there are some truly genuine moments in Bugsnax that players may find surprising considering the theme and weight of the game. While Bugsnax does not graphically push the PS5, it is a great game for kids to play, which is an area often missed by game publishers.
“The cuteness of the Bugsnax and the game’s similarities to creature-catchers like Pokémon might make it seem like the perfect game for younger audiences.” — Joshua Hawkins, Product Tester
Cyberpunk 2077 is a sprawling and detailed open-world game set in a dystopian cityscape and rendered in unparalleled detail. However, it is also deeply flawed with game-breaking bugs, missing features, and demanding hardware requirements. It also leans heavily into mature themes and content, and thanks to an extremely dark setting won’t be for everyone.
Best RPG
Cyberpunk 2077
Unparalleled visual quality
Immense open-world cityscape
Lifelike character models and animation
Excellent voice acting
Engaging campaign and side quests
Rampant, game-breaking bugs
Poor performance on all but high-end PCs
Broken AI
Missing features
This is a first-person experience, with hundreds of widely varied weapons to do battle with and a vast array of unique cars to collect. There’s also a deep customization system where you can fine-tune everything from your character’s skills, abilities, and cybernetic implants, to your weapons and clothing. Combat and navigation are flawed, and the game’s promised AI is almost nonexistent, but it’s still fun to drive and fight your way through Night City.
The story is one of the highlights of the game, with good writing and acting paired with believable character models. Side quests can also be very enjoyable, though the main campaign is the most polished and features the most exciting set-piece moments.
Cyberpunk 2077 can be a lot of fun, and it’s truly spectacular to behold, but you have to put up with a lot of irritating problems to enjoy it. You’d be well advised to wait for its most serious technical issues to be patched out, and even then you’ll need a beefy PC to experience it as its best
“The high quality of storytelling is probably the main highlight of the game, next to the insane graphical fidelity.” — Andy Zahn, Product Tester
About our Trusted Experts:
Erika Rawes has been writing professionally for more than a decade, and she’s spent the last five years writing about consumer technology. Erika has reviewed roughly 125 gadgets, including computers, peripherals, games, A/V equipment, mobile devices, and smart home gadgets.
With stunning graphics and a huge world to explore, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla earns our top pick as the best game for PS5. If you want something more succinct that shows off the PS5’s hardware and still offers a fun ride, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the way to go.
Andy Zahn has been writing for Lifewire since 2019 covering technology and games.
Andrew Hayward is a Chicago-based writer who’s been covering tech and games since 2006. He’s previously been published in TechRadar, Stuff, Polygon, and MacWorld.
What to Look for in a game for PS5:
Playability- Few things are more irritating than a glitchy game. Look for games that run smoothly, with clean transitions, tight controls, and minimal bugs (or prompt and reliable fixes for existing bugs).
Graphics- The PS5 has a 10.3-teraflop RDNA 2 GPU, 16 Gigs of RAM, and a 3.5-GHz 8-core AMD Zen 2 processor. With the upgraded hardware, game makers can take graphics up to the next level. Look for amazing visuals that truly feel next-gen. You want the game to look and run smoothly in the highest resolution/frame rates.
Innovation- A new console gives developers the chance to push boundaries like they never have, introducing new gameplay, worlds, and novel mechanics. The best games have next-level controls and integration with new PS5 features like the DualSense controls and 3D audio.
